FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

that our likulu is in heaven, and the local church is the centre around which all work
should be done.
In the traditional structure of most African societies there is a central authority and a
central place at the chiefs court. In the Chewa society for example, while a chief con­
curs with his people, they still look to him as a decision-maker and his court is where
decisions and policies are made. It is this concept that is in the people's minds with
regard to both the executive committees as decision makers, and Lilongwe as their
headquarters. 25 This loose ecclesiastical structure with its absence of centralized author­
ity has both positive and negative effects with regard to the work of chilangizo in the
Baptist churches.
3.9 CONCLUSION
This chapter has traced factors from the history that influenced the emergence of na­
tional Baptist Convention churches in Malawi (then Nyasaland). It has been shown that
their Western cultural background shaped the North American Baptist missionaries as
carriers ofthe Gospel to Africa. Africans too, as receivers and evangelists ofthe Gospel,
were influenced by their religious and political environment and background. These
historical factors have shaped the impact of the Gospel on Malawi women who then
raised a new set of questions, especially in the area that touched them most - that of
chinamwali which traditionally is a key element in the religious framework of the
Chewa. Some elements of Baptist doctrine and polity that directly or indirectly influ­
ence the issue ofchilangizo have been highlighted.
Ecclesiastically, this study limits itself to the geographical area of Lilongwe, which is
predominantly Chewa. As this study is on the Christianization of a traditional practice,
the following chapter discusses the Chewa traditional rite for the girls called china­
mwali.
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